French and Saunders Series 1-6 Box Set

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders have, somehow, managed to become one of the first comedy double-acts that trips off the tongue when someone asks you about famous comedy double-acts. That's not to say that I don't like them, it's more that the adulation they get seems to imply that all their work is funny – when the truth is that it's more like 50%.

This is proved in this six-DVD set, which features about 40 episodes from 1987 to 2004. Series one, I'm afraid, just isn't that good. Maybe it's the fond memories people have clouding more rational judgement, but I didn't find it very entertaining. There's clearly some solid thinking behind the sketches, but French's performance in particular seems unnatural and the material would probably have been obvious even in the Eighties. Comparing this with the Whose Line Is It Anyway? DVD from the same period, there is no contest for which is likely to make you laugh.

The second disc is more promising. The film parodies start to show up in the titles, the sketches feel more like Morecombe and Wise and the guests start to get funnier – although I recommend skipping the Toyah Willcox bit. Heartily.

Series three brings the film and TV parodies en masse – The Exorcist is great and Jennifer's take on Lynn Foulds-Wood is even more frightening - although the best parts remain those set in their 'house', with Saunders demanding that people don't get dirt on the non-existent carpet and Dawn French ending up having to blow the front door off to get in the living room. There are already hints of Jam and Jerusalem in sketches about country folk, and there is an obvious nod to the trappings of showbiz in the sketches set in the production office.

Sadly many of them are still too long – even having experience of a time before The Fast Show and Little Britain, things still drag on for a minute longer than they need to.

Series four and five are the 'heyday'. Misery, Baywatch, The Silence of the Lambs, The House of Idiot and Dr. Quimn, Mad Woman are well-remembered for good reason, and they are BIG budget. There's far less reliance on jokes about 'women's issues', thank God, and while it's still not hilarious the overall feel is that some class has been gained – exactly the reverse of some more contemporary comedy.

The 2004 shows, however, take a step back as far as inspiration goes – a lot of them being, as they are, about the duo being commissioned a new series. We're into widescreen and have some rocking kittens in the intro; but the perfect-looking Hopefully Haunted doesn't quite hit the spot, the PA IS 'token black woman' and the gag about them only working one day a week is probably the truth masquerading as a double-bluff.

I wouldn't pay seventy quid for this, but no doubt there are plenty of rabid fans who will. The overall experience is disappointing and the sad truth is that they're not as good on TV as you might think from their popularity. A real shame.